E-Paper
Illegal detention, extortion charges: Tainted cop removed as Kharar CIA chief
Man was allegedly held back illegally at CIA office in Kharar on November 21.
Nine days after the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) office in Kharar was raided on allegations that a man was illegally detained there, inspector Sukhbir Singh, in-charge of the office, was removed from the post and repatriated to his parent unit, the 4th Commando Battalion (CDO) in Mohali.
The warrant officer was sent by the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC), following a petition by the man’s friend, to check if he was indeed illegally detained.
After the raid on November 21, the warrant officer had reported that he did not find anyone illegally detained. The case will come up for hearing on December 9.
The orders issued by the office of the Punjab director general of police (DGP) on Saturday said, “Sukhbir Singh repatriated from district Mohali to his parent unit 4th CDO on complaint basis with immediate effect.”
Sukhbir, appointed in September this year, is the second CIA in-charge to be removed unceremoniously after courting controversy.
The man in question, who was allegedly detained, is Vineet Gulati, owner of chicken corner in Mubarikpur.
On November 28, he had filed a complaint to the vigilance department, alleging extortion, assault and illegal detention, against the CIA in-charge and ASI Gurpratap Singh.
The same day, Gulati, with his mother Kulwant Kaur, had met the top police brass alleging that CIA officials were harassing him and demanding bribes of ₹50,000 a month because his customers were drinking alcohol outside his shop.
He had alleged that on November 21, he was called to the CIA office in Kharar, so he went there with his friend Gurpreet Singh.
There, he was detained in a room and beaten up by the police and made to call Gurpreet, asking him to get₹50,000, Gulati had alleged.
Not seeing his friend for about an hour, Gurpreet immediately filed a habeas corpus petition at the HC (which allows people to report illegal detention and order an official to bring the person to court) fearing that (Gulati) will be implicated in a false case.
Gurpreet, in his plea before HC, had also alleged that the CIA in-charge and ASI Gurpratap Singh had illegally detained Gulati.
HC then sent warrant officer Vijay Gupta to the CIA office with instructions that if anyone was found detained, an FIR should be registered against the police officials.
Hearing Gulati ask Gurpreet for help, the police allegedly let Gulati leave the CIA office around 4.30 pm, which is why when the warrant officer came at 7.30pm, Gulati was outside the office, with no signs of illegal detention.
Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal did not respond to repeated calls.
Though he also did not answer calls on Saturday, Sukhbir had earlier claimed that Gulati, as part of a conspiracy, was trying to implicate CIA staff in false case.
